Iraq Says It’s Ready to Restart Oil Via Turkish Pipeline

(Bloomberg) -- Iraq’s oil ministry repeated that it’s ready to restart exports from the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan via a pipeline to Turkey that’s been shut for almost two years. 

But a long-running dispute between Kurdistan and the central government is unresolved. Also, both Iraq and Turkey have said for longer than a year that they’re prepared to get oil flowing again, but the pipeline still hasn’t reopened.

Baghdad asked Kurdish officials to start delivering the crude to state marketeer SOMO to resume exports “according to the mechanisms set forth in the budget law and its amendment and within the production ceiling specified for Iraq in OPEC,” the Iraqi oil ministry said in a statement on Saturday, without specifying a date for the restart. 

Kurdish officials issued a response to the oil ministry saying it had not obtained the central government’s approval on how much oil would remain for domestic consumption and payments to producing and transporting companies.

Resuming shipments through the pipeline may pose a dilemma for Baghdad, which is obligated to cut crude output as part of an OPEC+ agreement, but has struggled to adhere to promised cutbacks. 

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ production and exports are under increasing focus after President Donald Trump in January called on the group “to cut the price of oil.” 

The pipeline saga began in March 2023 after Turkey closed the link following an arbitration court’s order to pay Iraq $1.5 billion. Ankara, which claimed the conduit was shut because it needed repairs after two massive earthquakes, later said that it was ready for operations and it was up to Iraq to resume flows. That never happened as talks stumbled on technical and financial issues. 

Iraq’s parliament this month passed a budget amendment to allow Baghdad to pay out a higher fee of $16 a barrel for oil production and transportation, a step closer to resolving the impasse.

(Updates with new second paragraph and statement from Kurdish officials in fourth paragraph.)

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